


Calling Me Home

by BossToaster (ChaoticReactions)



Series: Message From the Veins (Rare Pair Week) [4]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: But mostly boys being ridiculous, Fluff, M/M, Some creative liberties with the castle, WAFF, Warm and Fuzzy Feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 17:59:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,570
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9777872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticReactions/pseuds/BossToaster
Summary: Matt convinces Shiro to come see something interesting in the castle.Inevitably, it devolves from there.Written for Free Day of VLDRarePairWeek





	

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by Xagrok

“Are you ever going to tell me where we’re going?” Shiro asked.  He followed along a step behind Matt, hands in his pockets.

Matt glanced back.  “I could tell you the name of it and you wouldn’t know what I’m talking about anyway,” he pointed out.  “Because none of you have done more than a cursory exploration of this place.  You live in a castle city and it’s all sleeping.  You wound me.”

Making a face at Matt’s back, Shiro rolled his eyes.  “We’ve been a little busy.  There was universe defending involved.”

“Excuses, excuses,” Matt shot back.  “Now shush and let me take you on an adventure.  Aren’t you supposed to like those, Paladin?”

Fine, alright.  Clearly Matt wasn’t going to break, and Shiro didn’t have a particular problem exploring the castle with him.  Except that they’d been walking for a while, and when Matt had said he wanted to show Shiro something, he hadn’t thought it was going to take this long.  “I have to get back soon. You know that, right?”

Matt shot him another bland look.  “No, you don’t.”

What?

“Yes, I do,” Shiro replied, voice hardening.  “I don’t get to goof off just because you found something cool-”

Matt huffed at him.  “You do when I asked Allura and she said yes.  You know how long it’s been since you didn’t do anything productive?  I don’t, because I’ve literally never seen it since you guys picked up me and Dad.  And from what Allura said, it sounds like the answer is basically never.”

Blinking slowly, Shiro stared after him.  “You asked Allura- what?  No, Matt, I can’t take a day off to screw around, are you serious?  There’s training-”

“Dad took care of that,” Matt interrupted, all edged cheer.  “They’ll be running from his fearsome paintball skills.  So they’ll beg you to come back tomorrow, but they’ll be occupied for today.”

“-and what if the castle gets attacked?”

Matt shrugged.  “It’ll be twenty minutes to get back.  And we’re in the middle of open space while those upgrades go through anyway, we’re as safe as we can reasonably expect to be.”

All these immediate answers were starting to rub Shiro the wrong way.  He didn’t even know  _ why, _ except that it itched at Shiro’s skin, burrowing into him.  He didn’t want to stop.  He didn’t want to take a break.  He wanted to keep up with the momentum.  Because-

Because the momentum kept him busy.

That wasn’t an answer Matt was going to like, so Shiro ducked his head and shoved his hands in his pockets, refusing to answer.

“Shiro, you can’t keep this up.  You need breaks.  And I don’t mean days spent in the pod.”  Matt turned to look at him, gaze finally really serious.  There was concern there.  More of it than Shiro was comfortable with.  Why was Matt looking at him that way?  Shiro was  _ fine. _

Shiro looked away, shrugging.  “I’m doing okay.”

To his surprise, Matt nodded.  “You’re doing way better than anyone else could have.  Better than anyone could have expected of you.  But dammit, Shiro, everyone has limits.  You’re grinding yourself down.  Today’s the best possible day to take a break.  You can go back and take over training from Dad if you really, really want, but Allura and he both agreed that this is a good chance.  You should take it.”

It was true that there wasn’t going to be a better day from this.  And maybe Shiro could use a few hours of break.

Still.  It grated.  Especially that all these people were talking about him behind his back, deciding things for him.

“Don’t do that,” Shiro told Matt seriously.  “Don’t go over my head like that.”

Pausing, Matt nodded.  This time, he looked honestly contrite.  “Yeah.  I’m sorry.  It wasn’t- I was just making sure it was okay.  I wanted it to be a surprise.”

Shiro slowly unwound, and he gave a short nod.  “Okay.  Just this once.  Seriously,  _ don’t.” _  Matt’s head bobbed in agreement, and Shiro closed his eyes.  “Show me what you wanted.  After, I’ll decide if I want to go back or not.”

That made Matt beam, sudden and bright, and he reached out to grab onto Shiro’s hand, tugging him along.  “Perfect.”

In the end, that was the reason Shiro agreed to this nonsense.  Because Matt would have such bright, passionate intentions and pin Shiro with his enthusiasm, and it was impossible to do anything but go along with it.  Especially when it earned him that smile.

On the Kerberos trip, that hadn’t been nearly so bad a problem.  It helped that the only nonsense Matt got up to was harmless jokes, like daring each other to try and catch floating water blobs in their mouth rather than drinking like adults.

But since they’d recovered Sam and Matt, since Shiro had started spending more time with Matt as a peer rather than a co-worker, since he’d had the pleasure of watching Matt explore and grow and learn about the universe without being trapped by the Galra...

Well, it had all gotten more complicated.

Shiro was already way too much of a mess.  No one else needed to deal with the fractured, broken chaos that was his mind and body.  Especially not as a partner.

They were friends.  It was good.  It was plenty.  That wasn’t second best, wasn’t a consolation prize.  Shiro loved having Matt as a friend, taking up space in places he didn’t dare let anyone else fill.  

It was just that Shiro loved Matt in other ways, and sometimes that was hard to hide.

Today was probably going to be one of those days if Matt kept holding his hand.

“Ta-da!” Matt pronounced, waving his free hand at a closed door.

Shiro stared at it, one brow up.  Then he eyed Matt.  “Very impressive.”

“You can fly to Pluto and pilot a robot lion but you can’t figure out what to do with a door.”  Matt ‘tsk’ed at him, then tapped the screen next to the frame.  

It opened up, and Shiro narrowed his eyes at the gloom inside.  But Matt walked in without so much as a smirk, so he probably wasn’t about to be pranked.  Maybe.

When they were both inside, the lights hummed to life.  The room was huge, with tiles like stained glass rising from the floor all the way to the domed top.  Their footsteps echoed loudly, reflected back several times over, and the floor shimmered like it was freshly polished.

Shiro had no idea what he was looking at.  It was  _ pretty, _ but not anything he recognized.  So he shot Matt a confused look.

Grinning back, he tapped the console on the inside.  The walls flashed, then seemed to glow with light, shining out from the cracks between tiles and lighting the room with a rainbow of colors.

The floor rumbled.  Several small panels, each round and the size of Shiro’s fist, opened up.  After another rumble, jets of water came spiraling out.  The fountains caught the lights from the wall, and the ones above dimmed so the whole thing lit up like shifting neon rainbows.

The only think Shiro could think to compare it to was a concert he’d been to once, where they’d taken over a fountain and projected colors and moving images onto them to match to the music.  But that didn’t compare to the sheer  _ scale _ of this, each jet reaching at least a couple of stories high.

_ “Matt,” _ Shiro breathed.  “What is this?”

A hand wrapped around Shiro’s natural wrist, warm and solid.  “According to Coran?  Entertainment.  Alteans used water curtains for some forms of traditional story-telling.  Something to do with projecting shadows during the rainy seasons?  I dunno, he talked but I only caught one in every three words.  Lots of Altean.”  When Shiro looked over, Matt was beaming at him, the lights reflecting on his glasses and the shine of his eyes.  “But these are meant to be more abstract and interactive.  Which means we can run around in them.”

Shiro’s eyes widened.  “You want- I’m definitely not dressed for that.”

“It’s not like you’re wearing all white,” Matt replied.  “It’s black, it’ll just darken.  But you can take you shirt off, if you want.  I was going to.”

Considering him, Shiro shifted his weight from foot to foot.  “Maybe,” he allowed.  It was dark, after all, and it’d be hard to see the skin he normally covered anyway.  The flashes of color weren’t going to make him very detailed.  “Is that going to be a problem for you?”

“Because of-” Matt turned to face him, expression suddenly serious.  “First of all, you shouldn’t censor yourself because of me.  Ever.  For anything.  It’s your chest, Shiro, and if I was having problems dealing with it, that’d be my own problem.  Secondly...”  He reached up, letting go of Shiro’s wrist to grab his shoulder instead.  “I’m sorry you faced that, but I’m way, way happier you survived.  I’m sorry that you did it for me, I’m sorry you suffered long enough to get those scars.  But that’s all really damn small because you’re here and you’re alive and you’re still so damn  _ Shiro _ .  Okay?”

“That- I wasn’t...”  Shiro stared at him, surprised by the sudden outpouring of  _ sincerity _ from Matt, of all people.  But he still looked so damn serious, so much that he almost looked angry.  Like he was daring Shiro to say otherwise.  Giving in, nodded and relaxed, offering Matt a thin smile.  “Okay.  You didn’t have to say all that.”

“Yeah, I did,” Matt replied, back to flip.  “Now that I’ve made that clear. I don’t want to hear anything about ‘aahh he’s being polite he doesn’t mean it’ because I’m gunna be upset if you make me repeat myself, Shirogane.”

Despite himself, Shiro’s lips quirked back.  “Yes, sir,” he replied, cheeky as he could manage, and Matt smirked back, chest puffed out.  “And if I don’t want to take my shirt off?”

“Well, damn, I’m not gunna strip you,” Matt replied, rolling his eyes.  “If you don’t want to, you don’t have to.  You don’t even have to play in the water with me, if you want to take a seat and bask in the light like you went to the beach to suntan.   But it’d be more fun if you joined.”

Considering, Shiro nodded slowly.  Then he undid the vest and rolled it off his shoulders.  

Matt’s beaming smile was a reward all on its own.

By the time Shiro was out of his shirt (and he folded it and the vest nicely, leaving them in the dry spot by the door), Matt was bare chested too.  He grabbed Shiro’s wrist again, but this time, his fingers slipped down so they were curled around the back of Shiro’s palm instead.

It was an easy, careless gesture.  More an accident of how he’d held Shiro than anything else.

But Shiro was still glad the flashing green lights would hide his blush.

They were drenched almost instantly.  The jets of water moved in arcs, occasionally spurting in rhythms that meant nothing to Shiro but produced an audible, catchy beat on the floor.  It echoed in the huge room, just like Shiro’s laughter when Matt accidentally ran face first into a jet.

“Laugh it up, Shirogane,” Matt muttered, eyes flashing.  He shoved his glasses up so they tangled with his wet curls, then used both hands to direct the jet of water at Shiro instead.

Oh, that meant war.

Cackling, Shiro ducked around a moving jet, aware the fountain would disguise some of his movements.  He backed up and ran forward a few steps, then crashed to his knees.  The slick, wet floor carried his momentum, and Shiro caught Matt around the waist, tugging him down into his sopping lap.  He rolled them both, until they were bracketed on each side by a jet and getting rained on heavily, with Matt pinned under Shiro.  “You really wanna fight me?”

“Bring it,” Matt replied, shooting him a toothy smile.  He wrapped his legs around Shiro’s waist and  _ rocked _ up.

The unexpected gesture, combined with the heat of Matt and the way he could feel  _ everything _ through their wet clothes, made Shiro freeze.

Which meant Matt had no problem rolling him over on the slick floor and perching on his stomach, grinning down like a fiend.  “What was that?  Oh, I don’t want to fight the big bad Paladin, he’s sooo big and tough.  Little ole’ me could never manage to beat him.”

Shiro rolled his eyes and reached over, using his metal hand to aim the jet of water next to him at Matt again.  He sputtered and choked, and when Shiro finally stopped, his hair was soaked through and sticking to his face.

“Nice hair,” Shiro snickered.  “You look like a wet dog.”

Matt huffed back, then dove forward, running his fingers through Shiro’s hair in revenge.  “Just for that, I’m going to ruin your ‘do, you ass.  And you’ll hate it more than me, Lt. I-maintained-my-undercut-to-Kerberos.”

Laughing, Shiro tried to jerk his head away, but he wasn’t willing to shove Matt off too hard, and mostly just ended up making the effect worse. “You’re awful,” Shiro told him, still chuckling, and he turned to face Matt directly.

Which was when it hit that Matt was pressed against his chest, both of them shirtless and sopping wet, with his hands in Shiro’s hair.

Oh.

Uh oh.

Matt paused when Shiro did, and he looked down at him, frowning.  “You okay?  Shit, did I-”

“No!” Shiro stared up at him, eyes wide.  “No, I’m here. I’m fine.  It’s just that I realized-” He cut himself off, and even in the gloom, Matt had to be able to tell how red he’d gotten.

For a moment, Matt continued to search his face like he thought Shiro was lying.  Then it seemed to hit him what he problem was.  “Oh.  You... oh!”  Then he beamed. “Really?”

“Matt, no,” Shiro groaned, closing his eyes.  “Don’t tease.  Seriously, it’s not a big deal, and-”

He was cut off by a pair of warm lips on his.

Shiro’s eyes snapped open, and his hands found Matt’s hips, holding on tight.  When Matt pulled back, he’d just begun to kiss back.  “You-”

“I’ve wanted to do that since Kerberos,” Matt told him.  Then he paused.  “Well, okay, I wanted to have sex with you since Kerberos, and continue to be friends.  I wanted to make sweet, sweet love to you and hold your hand and all that awful crap since meeting back up.”  Matt glanced down at him, suddenly vulnerable.  “You, uh, you want to do that too, right?  The... I mean, if it’s just sex that’s fine.  Or none of those things.  Ah, man, was that just awkward?  Shit. Shit shit.  Never happened, ignore me, that totally wasn’t a thing that happened.  You’re hallucinating, the fountains are drugged-”

Reaching up, Shiro took mercy on Matt and pulled him down for another kiss.  “I definitely want to do all that awful romantic crap with you.  You dork.”

“Oh.  Okay.  Good.”  Matt nodded slowly, then beamed.  “Awesome.  Same page.  Good.  Um, can that start with making out?  Because making out sounds like a good place to start.”

Turns out, it was.

Matt was full of some very good ideas, it turned out.


End file.
